New molecular study on 24 types of Cancer sheds light on potential causes

A new molecular study on 24 different types of Cancer has shed light on the potential causes and how to avoid them.

In a new study published in the Molecular Biology and Evolution Journal, on 26, April, entitled “Attribution of cancer origins to endogenous, exogenous, and preventable mutational processes”, Authors Vincent L. Cannataro ,Jeffrey D. Mandell and Jeffrey P. Townsend detail how the molecular analysis of cancer can shed light on the extent to which the onset of cancer is actually the result of our choices and habits.

Part of the abstract of the study states: “Across 24 cancer types, we identify the contributions of mutational processes to each oncogenic variant and quantify the degree to which  each process contributes to tumorigenesis.”

“We demonstrate that the origination of variants driving melanomas and lung cancers is predominantly attributable to the preventable, exogenous  mutational processes associated with ultraviolet light and tobacco exposure, respectively,whereas the origination of selected variants in gliomas and prostate adenocarcinomas is largely attributable to endogenous processes associated with aging.”

“Preventable mutations associated with pathogen exposure and apolipoprotein B mRNA-editing enzyme activity account for a large proportion of the cancer effect within head and neck, bladder, cervical, and breast cancers.” 

The authors claim that this approach allows them to look directly at a person’s cancer and find out what caused it in their particular instance, allowing them to confirm some previous ideas about the influence of modifiable risk factors on each type of cancer. For example, skin cancers are largely a product of excessive and unprotected exposure to ultraviolet radiation; lung cancer is, in most cases a result of smoking; and bladder cancer is related to smoking and exposure to certain toxins in the work environment.

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